Apparatus for treating and utilizing town refuse.



'PATBNTED' MAR. 3; 1903.

W. P. WRIGHTSON. APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND UTILIZTNG TOWN REFUSE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 HO MODEL.

No. 722,195. PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903.v

W. P. WRIGHTSON. APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND UTILIZING TOWN REFUSE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1902.

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TVILLIAM PEROIVAL \VRIGHTSON, OF HIGHBURY, LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING AND UTILIZING TOWN REFUSE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,195, dated March 3, 1903.

Application filed August 26,1902. Serial No. 121,034. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM PERCIVAL TVRIGHTSON, engineer, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of 15 Highbury Crescent, I-Iighbury, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improved Apparatus for Treating and Utilizing Town Refuse, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improved apparatus for treating and utilizing town refuse in order to render it suitable for use as a fuel in block or briquet form for domestic, manufacturing, or other purposes.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood, I have appended the accompanying drawings, in which- I Figure 1 is a plan view of the combined apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the mixing-hopper.

I may adopt any kind or type of grinder, mixer, molding-machine, or press in combination with any prime motorand may to suit various conditions of adaptation, controlled by the area and shape of the place where the plant is to be installed, vary the position, type, and size of the machines without departing from the sequence of the various operations constituting the process.

In carrying my invention into effect I cause the refuse to be sorted or screened in order to eliminate useless or objectionable matter and then pass it into a hopper and chute A, Fig. 1, from whence it is conveyed to a grinding-machine or disintegrator B, where it is ground and reduced to the required fineness. It is then conveyed, by means of a chute a and an elevator or the like 0, to a hopper D, which is also supplied with a predetermined quantity of ground coal or coal-dust, clay, or the like by a hopper E and chute h and elevator F or any equivalent means for efiecting the same purpose. WVithin the hopper D, where these ingredients undergo a preliminary mixing and in order to increase the inflammability and render the mass plastic before the mixing and shaping is commenced, I provide an atomizer or spray dfor spraying crude petroleum upon the contents of the hopper D. This is injected under pressure through a feed-pipe e from a pump f and drawn from a low-level tank 71. Under favorchine of any known type or make.

able circumstances I may, however, dispense with the pumpfand allow the crude oil to flow into and be spread by the atomizer d from the tank or receptacle, if this is placed at a higher level to allow of a continuous and direct flow. It may be necessary to mix silicated water or an alkaline silica solution heated to about 160 Fahrenheit, so that the final consolidation of the resultant blocks or briquets of fuel may be perfect and capable of transportation without disintegration. In order that this may be carried out, I employ perforated pipes 19, which may be seen more particularly by the sectional elevation of the hopper D, drawn to a larger scale on Fig. 2 and similarlylettered. Said perforated pipes b are connected to a main trunk 0, communicating with the exhaust-steam pipe cor other source of steam or steam and silicated Water. The atomizer is a cone q, attached to the pipe 6, from which holes or ports emit the crude oil to the outer surface of g, which is inclosed by the conical hood p, the edges of which overlap those of q and cause a circular spray to be formed. The preliminary mixing havingbeen thus performed in the hopper D, the resultant mass, then in a plastic state, passes by a chute 11 to a combined automatic mixing, molding, pressing, and delivering ma- Briefly described, this machine comprises a mixingchamber 1', in which the material under treatment is delivered from the chute i and there mixed and churned or Worked up by means of a revolving shaft carrying a series of blades or mixers, said material then being caused to travel forward by a worm or screw to the molding portion of the machine s, which latter consists also of a revolving cylinder or drum H, the axis of whichis at right angles to the central shaft of the mixer and carries recesses or molds adapted to the formation of the required blocks or briquets and into which the thoroughly-incorporated and plastic mass is forced by the worm in s. The rotation of the molding cylinder or drum H is intermittent, and while one block or briquet is being formed by the pressure in s the other is delivered on the opposite side and on a platform or table, whence it is automatically pushed by a pusher under one of two vertical reciprocating presses I or I, or a single press may be employed for imparting the requisite pressure and expelling the superfluous moisture. The blocks or briquets are then automatically delivered to one or more traveling bands L L, by means of which they are carried to a convenient place for storage or deportation.

It will thus be seen that the crude material and refuse, being placed in the hoppers A and E, are ground, mixed, molded, and delivered continuously in the form of blocks or bricks suitable for fuel, the whole process being automatic.

It will be understood that different levels available in certain adaptations of my invention may render some of the chutes and elevators unnecessary or in other cases may add to their number without departing from the essential features of my said invention.

The power necessary for the Working of the apparatus herein described is derived from a steam-engine M and boiler N or any other suitable prime motor and is distributed by belts, pulleys, and the like from a countershaft g and shafts j and k, the former, j, being driven by a crossed belt Z to impart the necessary reverse motion.

I am aware that ordinary town refuse has been subjected to a grinding process and admixture With other materials prior to the invention comprised in my method of utilizing the same. Therefore I do not specifically claim these or other stages of the process involved individually, but as a whole constituting an automatic continuous process.

What I desire to claim by Letters Patent of the United States is In a machine for converting refuse into fuelblocks,a grinder for disintegrating the refuse, a mixing-chamber receiving the disintegrated refuse from the grinder, steam-pipes heating and discharging into the mixing-chamber, means for depositing fine fuel into the mixing-chamber where it mixes with the other contents thereof by gravity, a spray ejecting liquid fuel into the mixing-chamber, and means for receiving the mixture from the mixing-chamber and compressing it into blocks.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM PERCIVAL WRIGHTSON.

Witnesses:

PERCY E. MATTOC'KS, FRED. 0. SMITH. 

